Before we went away there was a bit of a water problem in the unfinished room in the basement. I had wrapped presents in there all day but since I kept in one spot (and I wear Birkenstock sandals) I never realized that the carpeting was drenched!
Hubby stepped on the spongey, swampy mess and traced the problem back to a hairline crack in the foundation. Fortunately, other than the carpet, nothing was damaged or lost. Unfortunately, the giant weight machine had to be moved out of the way as we cut the carpet and 5,000 pound saturated underpadding away. That was heavy, messy work but we are lucky that we discovered the problem before leaving and could dry everything out.
That was the bad news but the good news that resulted is that the bare concrete floor is now ideal for pinning my quilts! As it happens, I was ready to baste the Frozen quilts and there was just enough room to tape the backing to the floor and layer the batting and pieced quilt top for pinning. (It was great for rolling, measuring, and cutting the batting, too!) It was a little difficult to spend two hours on my knees on the cold, hard concrete but I slid a small carpet sample around with me to sit on while I changed positions. I tried using hubby's fancy gel knee protectors but they were a little cumbersome as I moved around.
It worked so well to have the backing taught and I could really tell when my pins were through the layers and hitting the floor. I had almost enough curved pins for the first quilt and had to switch to straight safety pins for the second. I was sure I would run out before finishing but since I spaced them far apart at first and then filled in the empty spaces after, it actually worked out well - balanced and secure!
Of course, we have to put all the exercise equipment back to its original position but instead of carpeting we will just buy a rug. I will be able to roll it up for the couple times a year I need to baste a quilt too large for tables and we can just push the weight machine (although it's hard to do, it IS at least possible), out of the way. The negative problem of water in the basement turned into a positive for my quilting! Hubby is sealing up the crack and now that there is no carpeting we will be able to notice right away if there is any more water coming in.
Both Frozen quilts are now pin basted and I've started stitch-in-the-ditch quilting on the first...
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